SECOND INVASION OF WILLIAM THE CONCRETER



concrete pump




patio shuttering




Pete & Richard




2 lorries - 11 cubic metres




front section compete




that orange thing in the sky is called the sun




fence posts in


I have discovered what makes William happy; it’s a delivery where there is no concrete left over. Surely there must be some sort of scheme for concrete left-overs – a channel tunnel perhaps?
Unfortunately Paul’s pump has died so I have had to get another contractor in – this one rather larger like a giant angle lamp, and rather more expensive. Pete and Richard helped out and it all went smoothly. The shuttering for my curved patio made up by thin slats of timber managed to survive the weight of concrete, and the nightmare of concrete going off in the wrong place did not materialize.

Richard has also built the fence for my neighbour after we knocked the last remaining wall of the old bungalow down – fortunately in the right direction.

TOOLS

Does anyone else get sentimental about tools? Aren’t they found in burial mounds? Of the six chisels my father gave me one Christmas there are three left. I did ask him why I needed six chisels, being only about six at the time. He said – you never know. One got squashed when the front section of the old bung collapsed rather earlier than anticipated – I was almost in tears.

I have found another brilliant place in Rye, tucked away out of reach of the health and safety inspector – a metal-working engineering firm. As soon as you walk in you know this is a good place where useful stuff is done. There is gentle hum of very heavy machinery and a smell of oil presiding over an overwhelming sense of procedural chaos. There is a reception but actually if you want to talk to anyone you have to make your way across a labyrinth of lathes to the hairy man in the corner. That will be an hours work - 40 quid - for the vital part for my 52-18=34 year old woodworking lathe (a child compared with this lot).